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This week, I have been planning my big abstract. It looks like it will be about 100" by 50". What I am planning is twelve columns of twelve colors, arranged according to their familial dye relationship. Imagine the twelve columns to represent each of the twelve colors on the color wheel. Each of the columns contains twelve dyes created by mixing together the twelve colors on the color wheel (I show the start of the first two columns in the picture). In the first column I show my red dye, as it is mixed pure (first red color square hooked in the lefthand corner of the picture ), below this is a square that was created by mixing the red dye with orange-red (the hooked square right below the first). Below this will be my red dye mixed with my orange dye. Then my red dye mixed with my orange-yellow dye. And so on around the color wheel. The second column is my orange-red dye similarly mixed with all 12 colors on the wheel. The rug column's will advance accordingly.

I am hooking the piece with a #9 (my new Bee-Townsend cutter head which I LOVE), the biggest cut I have ever used. I am thankful that I bought a 9mm Hartman hook because I could not hook this rug without it. Wow does it make the job easy. It took me a while to figure out the spacing so that I didn't end up with squashed or bent loops. I am hooking loops in every two holes like I do for any other cut, but when I advance to the next line, I am skipping five (!) linen strands. I tried four, but some of the loops were bent. Five seems to do the trick, but it feels like I am leaving a very wide ditch between rows.

I'll update as I hook this rug. I am going to need encouragement. It is big, and it is repetitive since it mainly consists of hooking straight lines. I tried curved lines at first, but was soon pulling out my hair, and decided that for this rug, straight lines would work fine!